DVD Decoder?

not14talk

Ok I formatted my old computer a while back and I downloaded a Vista beta(and burned it to a dvd because a cd was too small to hold it) but when I formatted my pc I lost my dvd decoder. Now is there any free decoders for this I have found video ones but thats not what im looking for. Even if its a 14 day trial thats all I need. Or can I copy the one thats on my main computer?

Beelzebub

not14talk wrote:

Ok I formatted my old computer a while back and I downloaded a Vista beta(and burned it to a dvd because a cd was too small to hold it) but when I formatted my pc I lost my dvd decoder. Now is there any free decoders for this I have found video ones but thats not what im looking for. Even if its a 14 day trial thats all I need. Or can I copy the one thats on my main computer?

Have you tried the 2 free players

VLC: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
and
GOM
http://www.gomplayer.com/main.html

Ruu_Old

VLC is excellent, it doesn't require a decoder to play DVDs and should do the trick alright.

not14talk

But im not trying to play a dvd im trying to run a program off a dvd!

Beelzebub

not14talk wrote:

But im not trying to play a dvd im trying to run a program off a dvd!

You don't need a DVD decoder for that.

I am confused as to the problem you are having though...

Are you trying to install vista from the DVD now?

8T8

I think he means DVD burning software, he doesn't seem to be making it clearly what he wants

not14talk a DVD decoder decodes DVD movies for playback in a PC.

DVD burning software allows you to write data to a DVD

Image burning software allows you to burn images of media to a writeable disc.

You do not need software installed to run programs from a DVD which are usually an installer in the first place.

not14talk I would not recommend using the Vista betas as an OS especially since they are very out of date and buggy the final version was released only a week or so ago.

not14talk

Sorry for being unclear. I have a DVD which has Windows Vista on it. I want to see whats it like before getting the real software.

When I put the DVD into my old pc it says there is notting there but when I have the DVD in my main pc it comes up as Windows Vista and all the files there.

Do I not need a DVD decoder to read a DVD CD?

John mac

Has your old pc got a cd player/burner or DVD player/burner?
if its a cd player it wont read a dvd.

Creamy Goodness

i'm thinking that to go into the vista install you have to set "boot from DVD/CD" in the bios.

not14talk

John mac wrote:

Has your old pc got a cd player/burner or DVD player/burner?
if its a cd player it wont read a dvd.

Its not that old its a DVD/RW and a DVD ROM.

As for the boot in BIOS I cant change it to CD(like there is no op for CD boot only has floopy disk, usb, zip but no CD) for some odd reason!

8T8

It is likely the media you burned to was of poor quality or was badly burned in the first place or more one theory is the firmware of the DVD drive does not read those discs well.

I would suggest burning to different media like Verbatim discs or update the firmware of the drive in the old PC.

The betas of Vista are not exactly indicative of the final product, there is some Microsoft web site demo that allows you to run Vista within sort of a virtual PC though remote desktop connection but my Google fu is failing me at the moment.


Edit: yoyo that's it the test drive service couldn't remember it US only you say oh well so that kills that.

yoyo

8T8 wrote:

It is likely the media you burned to was of poor quality or was badly burned in the first place or more one theory is the firmware of the DVD drive does not read those discs well.

I would suggest burning to different media like Verbatim discs or update the firmware of the drive in the old PC.

The betas of Vista are not exactly indicative of the final product, there is some Microsoft web site demo that allows you to run Vista within sort of a virtual PC though remote desktop connection but my Google fu is failing me at the moment.

Is that microsoft test drive service not US only? Seemed like a good idea but when I logged in it said US residents only As for the burning, does your pc have a Boot Menu (At startup) i.e lets say the [del] key enters bios, is there another bit of text come up saing boot menu or anything to that effect (Think [F12] opens this menu on dells)? If so you can use that to boot off the DVD, some older DVD ROM drives cannot physically read any type of recorded DVDs whether +/-R, also make sure you record onto a Writable DVD only and not to use Re Writeables as RW discs mite not be picked up on some DVD-ROM drives,

Nick